The other issue for Apple is that similar questions are getting raised in other markets, like the UK.
But it's also why increasingly large rounds are getting raised, whether in China or in the U.S., so companies can stay private longer.
And on Monday, Mr. Vance may have provided the best booster yet: he announced at an officewide meeting that prosecutors would be getting raises, after not receiving them last year because of budget constraints.
Thousands of young lawyers, already among the highest paid workers in the country, are getting raises that usually go only to people who receive promotions or who switch jobs.
► This week's news that some postdocs in the United States will be getting raises thanks to a new overtime rule, "[a]lthough welcomed by many," as Jocelyn Kaiser wrote Thursday, "could have major impacts on budgets of labs and universities, which have only until 1 December to comply.
In the other eight, workers are getting raises thanks to automatic cost-of-living increases built into the existing minimum wage laws.
"The musicians have consistently been getting raises and benefits," said Anthony Aibel, the group's 31-year-old conductor and music director.
Still, compensation budgets remain tight, and the employees who are getting raises tend to be their company's top-performing stars with unique skills — in other words, the employees who stand the highest risk of being poached by competitors.
